Panasonic Toughbook: The Ultimate Gig Laptop?

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The Panasonic Toughbook. Sure you have seen them on those TV commercials at construction sites and in your local police car, but have any artists out there actually considered picking up a Toughbook? The club atmosphere can be a pretty rough ride for a laptop, even tougher if your are adding on flights and constant touring.

The Panasonic Toughbook is designed and touted to be able to handle the toughest of environments, offering shatter and scratch resistant screens, a very hard magnesium alloy casing, and a shock mounted HDD. Most models even offer a water proof keyboard (gotta avoid those spilled drinks) and in some models a touch screen interface. While the price of these machines on the whole is generally more expensive than your traditional laptop, you are getting quite a deal of more security. These aren't underspec'd at all either. They are sporting Core Duo processors, and a 1,000 nit screen designed for outdoor use. The only thing off the top of my head that I am wondering about is performance and heat as related with a laptop in such an enclosed case.

Has anyone out there performed with a Tougbook before? They certainly seem like they could be a logical investment for the laptop musician, yet you don’t see anyone performing with one.